United Airlines will introduce new first and business class seats on international routes next year, including its four daily non-stop routes between the United States and China. The carrier is investing US$165 million in upgrading the seats in its wide-body aircraft. About 100 airplanes will be upgraded.

The carrier is awaiting US government approval to launch a route connecting Beijing and Washington, DC, next March. This is the last chance for US carriers to launch a new route to China before 2008, according to the current Sino-US bilateral aviation agreement signed in 2004. The US government is expected to announce its decision by the end of December.

According to a recent independent AC Nielsen survey of US citizens living in Beijing, 65.6 per cent of the respondents say that a direct flight between Beijing and Washington, DC, would be the most desirable.

American Airlines has applied to fly between Dallas and Beijing; Continental Airlines has applied for a non-stop route between New York and Shanghai; and Northwest Airlines between Detroit and Shanghai.